Title: Economically disadvantaged communities: a solution-based study through education and information communication technology

Authors: Alice S. Etim; James S. Etim

Addresses: Department of Management, Marketing and Management Information Systems, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27110, USA ' Department of Education, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27110, USA

Abstract: North Carolina ranked 40th out of the 50 states in the USA in a new report card on public education. Generally, schools are graded A, B, C, D and F grades where 80% of school grades are based on the percentage of student tests scores that are at or above grade-level performance. In Economically Disadvantaged communities, specifically, those in one large county in Central North Carolina, schools there tend to perform poorly, scoring 'D' and 'F' grades in the state schools' report cards. The main research question was: Do students in low performing schools also score low on the Incoming Readiness scale? A survey and secondary data (North Carolina School Report Cards for 2016-2017) were collected and analysed. The key finding was low performing schools had higher percentage of students with low Incoming Readiness. The study covers issues of social justice and the need to improve school performance.

Keywords: economically disadvantaged communities; information and communication technology; ICT; readiness; schools; report cards.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEED.2020.106579

International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 2020 Vol.11 No.2, pp.132 - 148

Received: 27 Mar 2019
Accepted: 15 Jul 2019

Published online: 15 Apr 2020 *

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